Happy Birthday to Dionne Warwick, who celebrates her 72nd birthday today (December 12th). In 2011 Warwick published her autobiography called, My Life As I See It, which was co-written by David Freedman Wooley and published by Simon & Schuster. Warwick's maternal aunt is legendary gospel singer Cissy Houston -- the mother of the late Whitney Houston.

Warwick will always be best known for her classic 1960's hits written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, including "Don't Make Me Over," "Anyone Who Had a Heart," "Walk On By", "Alfie," "I Say A Little Prayer," "(Theme From) The Valley Of The Dolls," "Do You Know The Way To San Jose," "I'll Never Fall In Love Again," and many others.

Warwick was asked if she could sum up why she and Bacharach and David were such a formidable creative team: "I think the magic of what Bacharach-David-Warwick was -- the fact that I did do every single song that they wrote in the form of a demonstration record, and/or I was a part of the background group that did when they wrote songs for the Drifters or any other person that they were recording -- we just knew that there was a chemistry that absolutely worked with the three of us."

Warwick's hits continued through the '70s and '80s including "Heartbreaker," which was co-written and produced by the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb, "I'll Never Love This Way Again," and the Number One hits "Then Came You" with the Spinners and "That's What Friends Are For" with Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder.

Warwick said that she couldn't pick one decade in her nearly 50-year career that was more important than the others artistically: "I learned from each one. The fact is that I grew with each one of them, so it's hard to say that one was bigger or better than the other."

Dionne Warwick will next perform on December 15th in Miami Beach, Florida at the Fontainebleau Hotel.